Tender Torment by Alicia Meadowes Read Free Book Online

know. He escaped.”
    “Escaped? General Seton? What are you telling me, Ed? Start again. My head…” The earl groaned as he massaged his aching temples.
    “Look, here it is,” Harding thrust a morning journal beneath Straeford’s nose. “Read it for yourself.”
    Suddenly the earl leaped from the edge of the bed where he had been sitting. Taking the paper to the window, he thrust back
     the draperies so the early morning light made reading easier. He winced painfully, his head throbbing from the excess of the
     brandy imbibed thenight before, but he read hurriedly, consuming the incredible facts before him.
    “Attacked at sunset… a band of two thousand screaming rebels… two hundred British soldiers dead… General Seton and Major
     Sellers escaped to Calcutta. I’ll be damned! The old fool must have bungled again.”
    “That’s exactly what happened, Just. The garrison was undermanned.”
    “I can hardly credit Dashrami’s luck. The dirty heathen must have nine lives!”
    “It didn’t take much luck to outmaneuver Seton. This time there’s no covering the blunders. Sentries weren’t posted properly,
     the call to arms came too late, muskets weren’t ready—Seton will be disgraced.”
    “It had to happen. He’s been going downhill for a long time. It’s a wonder he got by thus far.”
    “He got by because you were there to see he did. Well, not anymore. He will have to face the consequences himself this time.”
    The earl rubbed the black stubble on his chin thoughtfully. The War Office would not be able to sweep this disaster under
     the carpet, and the press and the public were bound to hear the truth about Seton. How that would affect him depended on whether
     the board saw Nangore and Baklar as two separate incidents, or a developing pattern of incompetence on the part of General
     Seton.
    “For once, my friend, fate is easing your way.”
    “At the expense of two hundred British lives, man! Don’t forget that!” Straeford declared vehemently.
    “Hell, Justin, I’m not forgetting it! But it happened, and your future looks better for it. I’m sure the board will decide
     in your favor.”
    A knock at the door interrupted their conversation, and Straeford’s servant, Billings, entered with a breakfast tray. After
     serving each man a cup of coffee, he left them alone again. Straeford stared moodily at the cup in front of him until Harding
     asked, “Something else troubling you, Justin?”
    Straeford took a gulp of black coffee before answering. “It’s the Loftus business.”
    “Oh.” Harding waited for him to go on.
    “I’m promised to the merchant for dinner tonight to meet his daughters.”
    “Take heart, old man. Mayhap you’ll like the look of them.”
    “What’s that to say to anything?”
    “A pretty face can ease many a sorry plight.” Harding grinned as he bit into a warm scone.
    “Egads, Ed!” Straeford jumped out of his chair and began pacing the room restlessly. “They are common cits! The man’s in trade.
     Daughters of a climbing, grasping merchant. Can you imagine their style? Their mode of life?”
    “You over-dramatize, Just. You are not the first man ever forced to search the merchant ranks for a suitable wife and fortune.
     Besides, you told me the mother was a Bradshaw.”
    “Who married beneath her,” Justin snapped.
    “Still, you may find the gods are dealing more kindly with you than you know, my friend. Take heart and keep an open mind.”
    “An open mind is an unguarded door through which any fool may pass,” the earl retorted before dropping into his chair and
     returning to the topic of General Seton and the catastrophe in India.
    The modest Loftus residence in Bloomsbury surprised Straeford. The air of simple dignity presented by an unadorned dark green
     door and shining brass knocker was altogether impressive. It was not what the earl expected and he regarded it favorably.
    The butler’s manner was quiet, the foyer sedate and the